In recent years there has been an interest in the development of ad-hoc networks, for example for monitoring inside or outside spaces. An ad-hoc network includes a set of autonomous nodes each of which includes a wireless transceiver and would also typically include a microprocessor and input or output devices for interfacing with the environment of the network. One important category of Ad-Hoc networks is wireless sensor networks. Wireless sensor networks can be used indoors or outdoors for safety (e.g., fire detection), security (e.g., intruder detection) or routine operations (e.g., HVAC) applications for example.
Wireless sensor networks are sometimes designed to be self-powered by including a battery or environmental energy harvesting (e.g., solar panel) device, so the power available for operating each node of the wireless sensor network may be limited. Setting up an ad-hoc network involves discovery of routes to all other nodes in the network which typically involves flooding the network with special route discovery messages and may be energy intensive. Additionally routing tables must be maintained in memory.
It would be desirable to have a routing protocol for wireless sensor networks that avoids the need for route discovery and for maintaining routing tables.